In only a couple short years after winning the porn reality television show The Sex Factor, porn star Blair Williams has amassed 97 videos, according to IAFD.com. She talked with DazedDigital.com about her rise in porn and her life, before and after. Before she auditioned for the show, Blair worked as a live-in nanny and church pre-school teacher, who only lost her virginity a year ago. After, she still is religious, but isn’t teaching Sunday school. “I still believe in God. Religion doesn’t condemn you; the people who follow it obsessively do. If I went back to my church, I feel like I couldn’t tell people what I do without being taken into a back room for a fucking exorcism. I have a problem with people who like to speak on behalf of God. They place their fear of sexuality onto me. People use religion as a weapon because they’re uncomfortable with themselves.”

And you might not believe it, because stereotypes might tell you otherwise, but Blair is educated. And after being outed by her stepfather, struggles with the stigma of being labeled a dumb blonde in porn. “What’s hardest for my mom is the stigma around my intelligence or capability as a person because of my job,” she said. “I’m college-educated and had an academic scholarship – how else can I prove that my career was a thought-out decision? There’s this idea that I’m not using my brain the way I’m supposed to, when really, I’m using the tools I have to succeed in a job, just like any other job.” But that all isn’t stopping Blair. She is committed to porn. “My plan is keep shooting porn until it doesn’t make me happy, or it’s no longer physically sustainable, whenever that may be. I see myself retiring early, having enough money to support myself and live comfortably, and just volunteering for the rest of my life. For now, I just want to do work that’s going to break the stigma of my profession – I want to demystify Blair Williams.”

A Duke University study, published online in the journal of Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, recently showed that sex, or more particularly the hormone released during sex, can make men more religious. As part of the study, men were given the hormone Oxtocin, which is stimulated in sex, while others received a placebo. The men who received Oxytocin were more likely to say that spirituality was an important part of their lives, regardless whether they had previously stated that spirituality or faith played a part or not. The men also said that they would be more likely to see themselves as “interconnection with other people and living things,” according to the study. And that is the power of pussy.

In her own words, research assistant, Professor Dr. Patty Van Cappellen said, “Spirituality and meditation have each been linked to health and well-being in previous research. We were interested in understanding biological factors that may enhance those spiritual experiences. Oxytocin appears to be part of the way our bodies support spiritual beliefs.” The study only examined men, so it is unclear the effects the hormone has on women. Patty added, “Oxytocin’s effects on women’s spirituality still needs to be investigated.”

Samuel Perry has good things to say about porn. At least his recent study seems to suggest a few interesting findings when it comes to porn and religion. Sam is an assistant professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma, who followed a group of 1,314 adults over six years between 2006 and 2012, by using the Portraits of American Life Study (Pals). The common belief, according to his study, is that “[r]ecent research suggests that more frequent porn consumption, especially for religious persons, is associated with guilt and embarrassment, potentially diminishing one’s interest in religious or spiritual activities while also potentially creating feelings of scrupulosity that may draw individuals away from religious community.” But he found the opposite. His study found 39% of American adults have viewed some amount of porn in the past 12 months (with three times as men viewing porn material as compared to women.) And he found that while the consumption of porn was largely linked to decreased religiousness, people who used porn more than once a week became slightly more spiritual. “On the whole, results support the notion that viewing pornography can reduce religiosity over time. Adults who reported viewing pornography at all … reported more frequent religious doubt, lower levels of religious salience, and lower frequency of prayer compared to persons who never viewed pornography,” the study said. But Sam also wrote, “Findings suggest that viewing pornography may lead to declines in some dimensions of religiosity but at more extreme levels may actually stimulate, or at least be conducive to, greater religiosity along other dimensions.” Let’s keep it simple: porn is good.

Specifically, Sam found people who viewed porn 2-3 times a month were the least interested in religion, but “at higher frequencies of porn viewing however, the trend in religious salience later on appears to increase slightly.” He also found religious and service attendance, and prayer both increased among regular porn users “to the point where those who viewed pornography ‘once a day or more’ are almost back up to average levels of religious service attendance and prayer,” of those who said they never watched porn. The findings were similar for men and women.